After reading Za Za’s Scent-Sational Super Power and Za Za Spreads Sweetness BOOKS, you can enjoy several fun STEM activities with little ones to demonstrate how smell and memory are connected.
Scent Memory Game
Gather an even number of containers (suggestion - 6 jars).
Fill sets of two with the same olfactive ingredient like: coffee beans, orange slices, pickles, etc.
Put a blindfold on.
Mix the jars up.
Find scent matches.
Ultimate Taste Tester
Want to try an experiment on an adult?
Gather a peeled onion and an apple.
Cover the adult’s eyes and ask them to plug their nose.
Now have them take a bite out of an onion. Then have them taste an apple.
What do they smell? What do they taste? Now, you try!
Synesthesia Scavenger Hunt
With a friend and an adult’s permission gather six items from around your house or out in nature that have a fragrance.
Smell each item and write down a color that comes to mind.
See if you and your friend come up with the same answers. Are there certain smells that remind you of your loved ones? Like your grandpa’s after-shave or your mom’s
How do your favorite fragrances compare to scents in nature?
Whether you have a preferred soap, shampoo or perfume or you want to explore new scents try comparing the product fragrance ingredient descriptions to the ingredients found in nature.
For example, go to a fragrance counter (with an adult) to safely sample some scents. Identify some favorites.
Ask what ingredients are in them and try to find examples of those in nature (e.g., pear, rose, basil).
Do the ingredients in nature smell like your fragrance? If not, what are the differences?
Jam Smell or Taste Test
Collect different flavored jams (e.g., apricot, blueberry, grape, strawberry).
Smell Test: Can you smell anything when sniffing the different varieties? If so, without tasting the jam describe or write down the differences you smell in each flavor. Let an adult know if you do not smell anything when sniffing the different samples.
Taste Test: Closing your eyes or wearing a blindfold, sample each individual jam. Discuss or write down the different taste profiles you experience. Take a sip of water in between each sample. After tasting each, what are the differences you notice among the samples? What are the similarities?
Taste Test Sampler
Gather mini cups, muffin baking pan or an ice cube tray for sampling of flavors. Try including different flavor profiles (salty, sour, sweet, spicy, bitter)
You can either have an open discussion identifying and comparing the different taste profiles or you can use a blindfold to see if you can identify certain flavors or foods.
Food suggestions:
Salty: Potato chips, pretzels, salted popcorn
Sour: Lemon, lime, salt and vinegar chips
Sweet: Milk chocolate chips, marshmallows, maple syrup
Spicy: Salsa, gumdrops, mint candy (if old enough to have hard candy)
Bitter: Baking chocolate, grapefruit, ginger
Free-Bee Fun
Download Za Za coloring pages today! Please send your finished coloring pages to awintrob@gmail.com or @zazas_scents to be featured in our bee-autiful gallery.
Bee-autiful Gallery of Coloring Sheets
““Smell was the very first sense to evolve and is located in the same part of the brain that processes emotion, memory, and motivation.””
